Brown digs in his heels as pressure to go mounts

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - Throughout his life, Gordon Brown has been a model of ambition checked by tragedy and the two may soon collide again for Britain's prime minister.

The leader of the country since June 2007, when he succeeded Tony Blair without an election, Brown has had an unsteady ride over the past two years and now faces a determined revolt, with ministers quitting and electoral defeat on the cards.

A parliamentary expenses scandal involving all parties has left voters particularly angry with the incumbents, and dry, serious Brown has struggled to regain the public's confidence.

Initially lauded for his no-nonsense, back-to-basics manner, the earnest son of a Scottish church minister was at first a popular departure from Tony Blair's flashy internationalism.

But now, amidst an economic crisis and the deepest recession Britain has seen since World War Two, Brown is battling for political survival, lingering far behind in opinion polls, his authority undermined and one-time allies calling for him to go.

European and local elections on Thursday -- with full results not out until late on Sunday -- are expected to confirm his unpopularity and that of his Labour Party, potentially hastening his departure from office.

The next parliamentary election does not have to be held until June next year -- and Brown has the privilege of deciding the day -- but a poor performance in Thursday's ballots, coupled with unrest within his party's ranks, could force Brown to step down sooner or call an early election.

If he is forced out in the next three weeks, he will have been the shortest-serving prime minister since the 1960s, when Conservative Alec Douglas-Home governed for just a year.